After mistakenly losing the Omegahedron, Argo City's life-sustaining power source, Kara takes off on a misssion to Earth to retrieve it and save the city. Upon reaching Earth, she is transformed into Supergirl and carries the alias Linda Lee. She must deal with the evil ambitions of a wicked witch, Selina (Faye Dunaway), and her meddling ex-boyfriend Nigel, who plan on ruling the Earth with help from the power of the Omegahedron, which they found when it crashed landed on Earth. Assisted by Jimmy Olsen and Lucy Lane, Lois Lane's sister, Supergirl is off on an adventure to save the Earth and Argo City.

It seems like whenever a movie tanks critically and financially, someone
claims that it would have been terrific if the director got his way.
There's always some superior cut out there somewhere, the version that
allows the ugly duckling to transform into a swan.

Sometimes these opinions end up being correct, as in the case of The Abyss; that film's extended edition greatly improved on the
original version. However, this didn't cause a revelation, as the
theatrical cut was still decent; the longer one simply made it more complete
and logical.

The Abyss is the exception to this argument, though, as most extended
editions just make the pain last longer. I saw Supergirl during its
theatrical run in 1984 and frankly thought it was pretty lame. Since that
seemed to be the general pattern in the Super series after the first
couple of films, I didn't think much of it and happily went on with my life.

Over the years, I heard that there was a longer "international" version that
greatly improved on the US cut. When Anchor Bay announced they'd release
this one on DVD, I was definitely intrigued. I always liked comic books and
superhero projects, and I usually wished for their success as films.
Unfortunately, they generally aren't very good, so if there was any hope a
longer edition of Supergirl could make it entertaining, I was all for
it.

Now that I've seen the international cut of Supergirl, I can say with
certainty: this is a pretty mediocre movie. Overall, I didn't think it was
laughably bad; although it flirts with camp, the film never enters the realm
of the genuinely atrocious. Instead, it commits what may be a more
egregious sin: it appears quite dull for the most part.

Comic book movies can be good or bad or funny or tragic or silly or dramatic
and still remain at least partially interesting. However, if they become
boring, the viewer suffers the worst fate of all. I can't say I really
disliked Supergirl, but I found myself disinterested for the vast
majority of its running time; I kept hoping that the story would eventually
take off but that never quite happened.

Films like this are often burdened by the necessity of vast amounts of
exposition. Look at the first Superman; I haven't seen it in years,
but I believe it takes a good hour to get to the introduction of the Man
(not Infant, Toddler, or Teen) of Steel. Supergirl doesn't take
quite so long to get Kara (Helen Slater) into her tights and cape, but it
feels like forever.

Ironically, the movie might have been more interesting if it had spent more
time with introductory material. The set-up feels rushed and incomplete.
Of course, that might be due less to the amount of time devoted to the
exposition than because of weak writing; the characters seem so flat and
weakly-drawn that I don't think additional space would help them become more
real.

The plot itself is very basic. After she accidentally allows the
Omegahedron - a funky power source that keeps everything going in her home
of Argo City - to fly into space, Kara splits in a ship and chases after it.
Both the Omegahedron and Kara end up on Earth, where aspiring sorceress
Selena (Faye Dunaway) has found the magical OH. She snags it, and Kara very
slowly tries to chase after it. Along the way, she enters a girls' school -
where she just happens to room with Lois Lane's sister Lucy (Maureen
Teefy) - and meets dreamboat gardener Ethan (Hart Bochner). Mild
complications ensue, most of which seem to revolve around who can bag the
hunk.

If you're going to make a movie with someone as powerful as Supergirl, the
story should probably involve events more life and death than just who'll
get the date to the prom. Yeah, that simplifies things, and we do see
Selena start to create a fascist state based on her power, but even when the
movie tries to expand into these bigger issues, it still feels small and
weak.

Some of that stems from Slater's performance. She's quite lovely and looks
very good in the part. However, she's inherently a tiny presence and has a
lot of difficulty pulling off a powerful character like this. As such,
though Slater's as cute and sexy as Supergirl should be, she seems awfully
flat and drab.

Slater succeeds much better with meek roles such as the one she superbly
filled in Ruthless People. As she works here, Supergirl never
presents a strong, heroic persona. I mean, she should really be almost as
powerful and tough as Kal-El himself, but she always feels like a wimp.
Selena's challenges should mean little to Supergirl and the "struggle" we
witness really should never exist.

Which leads to another problem with Supergirl: the poor villain.
Selena's an awfully "girly" baddie; her initial interest is in making hunky
Ethan fall in love with her, after all! Yes, that seemed to be part of her
plan for world domination, but nonetheless, you wouldn't see a male villain
bother with such silliness. Dunaway vamps it up in the role but doesn't
lead us anywhere. The character is not fun or intimidating or clever; she
just exists.

As Bianca, Brenda Vaccaro adds a female counterpart to Superman's
Otis, but she also suffers from a lack of definition. Otis was impossibly
dumb, which made him cartoony but at least he seemed entertaining. Bianca
just appears to give Selena someone to talk to throughout the movie; she
adds no interest on her own.

Following the descent into dreck he began in Caligula, Peter "Show Me the Money!" O'Toole appears as the genius
behind Argo City; he is also the one who accepts the punishment for Kara's
goof and flits off to the Phantom Zone. O'Toole tries his best to work with
the material, but he can't do much to make it compelling.

Speaking of Argo City, its treatment illustrates the shoddiness of the
film's exposition. As I recall from the comics, Argo City was supposed to a
new home for folks who survived the explosion of Krypton. There's no
mention of this in the movie and we receive very little indication these
people ever had anything to do with the residents of the doomed planet other
than a couple of mentions that Superman is Kara's cousin.

It's the absence of the depth that comes with those details that most harms
Supergirl. The movie seems poorly conceived and blandly executed.
The film looks fairly good, and most of the effects still hold up nicely,
but the story is dull and the characters lack range. It's not the worst
superhero film ever made, but it's one of the less interesting ones.

(One note: Supergirl excelled in one department, that of product
placement. I noticed at least three instances in which A&W Root Beer
receives significant presence. Twice this occurs through the inclusion of
vending machines, while the third features a character who wears an A&W
T-shirt! We also see a participant order a root beer of unspecified brand
at Popeye's - another prominently-featured business. I'm not sure the
placement is terribly positive; one of the vending machines gets destroyed,
and the guy who dons the T-shirt is a baddie. Still, I found this obvious
branding of the set amusing.)

The DVD:

Supergirl appears in its original theatrical aspect ratio of
approximately 2.35:1 on this single-sided, double-layered DVD; the image
has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. Although it occasionally shows its
age, overall Supergirl looks quite good.

Sharpness usually seems precise and well-defined, with only a slightly soft
appearance occurring at times, usually in some of the wider shots. We also
see some "glamour" lighting and soft focus which can result in some mild
haziness; these scenes generally concern Dunaway, and they're only a small
concern. Moiré effects are a periodic issue, and I also noticed a moderate
amount of artifacts from the anamorphic downconversion on my 4X3 TV; these
appeared mainly during city scenes, especially when we see a school bus and
other vehicles.

Print flaws almost entirely happen during blue-screen flying scenes. On
those occasions, I witnessed varying levels of grain; those specks could
range from virtually non-existent to quite heavy. During the rest of the
film, however, the print seemed very clean. I saw extremely little grain,
and I noticed no speckles, scratches, nicks, hairs or other problems.

Surprisingly, colors tend to seem fairly natural and accurate; I expected
brighter, more "comic book" hues. That's not a criticism - just an
observation. Overall, the colors are clear and solid without any bleeding
or noise apparent. Black levels appear deep and dense and shadow detail
looks appropriately heavy without excessive darkness. Ultimately, the image
seems very strong, with only some minor - and almost inevitable - flaws to
knock it down to a "B+".

Even better is the Dolby Digital 5.1 remix given to the soundtrack. The
soundstage seems quite broad and engaging, especially from the forward
channels. These displayed a great deal of activity and placed the sounds
precisely within their places. Panning can be a little awkward, as the
transitions between channels seems slightly jumpy, but overall the audio
blends fairly well. The surrounds are less active but they contribute
nicely to the effect. Both music and ambient sounds come from the rears,
and we even get some decent split-surround usage on occasion.

Quality seems equally fine. Dialogue can come across as a little flat but
it usually sounds natural and accurate, with no edginess or interference.
Effects are crisp and fairly dynamic; they appear clear and realistic.
Jerry Goldsmith's score seems especially bright and bold, with strong
presence and no apparent distortion. The mix shows some very good bass at
times, which adds nice depth to the track. The audio got a slight grading
"curve" to make it an "A-", but it's still a strong mix, especially when you
factor in the age of the material.

Supergirl packs in a nice little collection of supplemental features.
First up is an audio commentary from director Jeannot Szwarc and "special
projects consultant" Scott Michael Bosco. (Apparently "special projects
consultant" is another name for "dude who helped assemble the extras".)
Sensibly, Szwarc dominates the track, since he's the only one of the two who
actually worked on the film. Bosco generally functions as an interviewer,
though he contributes some helpful facts about the movie as well and he
steers Szwarc into some

Overall, it's a nice commentary in which we learn a lot of interesting
information about Supergirl. We find out what scenes didn't appear
in the original US cut and get lots of background details, such as changes
made to the script (including a planned appearance by Christopher Reeve),
casting choices, and other facets of the production. Even though I'm not
wild about the movie itself, this track was quite compelling. It suffers
from a few too many empty gaps but usually seems very good.

Next we find a 49-minute and 45-second documentary about the film called
"Supergirl: The Making of the Movie". When I first started this
piece, I noticed that it was produced at the same time of the film's
theatrical release and I feared the worst; I usually prefer contemporary
programs, since they often provide more detail and better perspective.

However, I found this documentary to offer a terrific look at the making of
the film. Yes, it lacks the historical viewpoint I'd like, but it more than
compensates by way of excellent footage from the set. We find all sorts of
great material here, from some of Slater's test shots to "behind the scenes"
interactions and some good interviews. The program seems pleasantly raw; it
even includes a chat snippet with Szwarc during which an assistant
interrupts the interview because they're resuming the filming of the movie!
Those involved are fairly frank about the issues they confronted - it's
wonderful to hear Peter O'Toole talk about how he copes with the silly
dialogue - and the whole show creates a lively impression of the shoot.
It's a tremendously entertaining little program.

We discover a collection of storyboards. Actually, there are six sections
in all, and the boards are presented as filmed montages; each of these runs
110 seconds and seven minutes, five seconds, with most of them lasting
around three minutes or so. I'm not a big fan of storyboards, so these
didn't do a lot for me, but they're presented nicely. The video montage
didn't seem as annoying as I anticipated, and each board fills as much
screen space as possible, which isn't always the case with some DVDs. One
complaint: all of the boards presented come from existing scenes, and I
would have preferred to find a few sections that featured deleted segments.

Some nice stillframe materials show up in the "Still and Poster Galleries".
Overall, this includes about 200 photos in four different sections ("Posters
and Advertisements", "Helen Slater as Supergirl", "Color Stills" and "Black
and White Stills"; these vary in size from 32 to 70 shots. All of the
stills are fairly promotional in nature; none of them seem to be candid
snaps from the set, though many are clearly taken from the shoot. There are
a few repeat pictures as well; in fact, I think a few of them even show up
in three of the four areas! In any case, the snaps are worth a look,
especially since so many of them feature Slater all dolled up in her
leotard. Excuse the blatant sexism, but yum!

A slew of other advertising pieces can be found. The DVD features five
different trailers: teaser; US; International; UK; and German. We also get
three TV ads: "Her First Adventure", a 90-second clip, plus "Heavenly
Romance" and "Secret Mission", both of which last 30 seconds each.
Interestingly, the American materials (the teaser, the full trailer and the
three TV ads) feature the only prominent use of John Williams' famous score
from the original Superman; the foreign ads all go with Goldsmith's
tunes. By the way, the German trailer is fully dubbed, which makes it
easily the most entertaining of the lot.

Next come "Talent Bios" that feature information about Slater, O'Toole,
Dunaway and Szwarc. These entries are all quite good; the filmographies are
too brief, but the text discussions of the different folks' lives provide
some nice details. They're all very interesting and readable.

As first seen on the Fight Club DVD, Supergirl includes the "THX Optimode" program
to set up your TV. This provides you with information to correctly
configure various audio and video aspects of your home theater. I don't
think it fully replaces something like Video Essentials, but then
again, "Optimode" comes as a free addition to a DVD, so it's clearly a
bargain. If you haven't already used VE or some similar product, you
should find "Optimode" very helpful.

Finally, the DVD includes a four-page booklet. Two of these present some
nice production notes from commentary participant Bosco. He reflects some
of the notions presented during that track but adds some other information
that makes it worth a look.

But is Supergirl ultimately deserving of your time? Yes and no. The
DVD presents the film in a cut not previously seen in America, and it does
so with style; both sound and picture are very good, and the disc includes
some excellent extras. However, the movie itself remains a serious dud.
Fans of the flick will be very happy, but the most I can recommend for
anyone else might be a rental; it's a nice package, and the fun supplements
add interest, but it's not something I'd want to keep in my collection.

Final note: Anchor Bay offer two DVD editions of Supergirl: this one
and a limited edition 2-disc set. The latter features the same DVD we find
here plus a second one that presents a never-before-seen 138-minute
"director's cut" of the movie. Apparently no additional supplementary
materials pop up on the second DVD; it's just the longer movie, ala the
limited edition of Halloween. Why Anchor Bay doesn't present these films with seamless
branching so we can get all the different cuts on one DVD is a mystery to
me, but be alerted that this alternate release exists. That package retails
for $15 more than this one-DVD edition costs.